Operation Pillar of Defense

Operation Pillar of Defense occurred from 14 to 21 November 2012 when Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in reponse to the launch of 100 Palestinian rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on 14 November. Israel severely impaired Hamas' rocket launching capabilities, and the rocket fire temporarily ceased. However, renewed Hamas rocket attacks led to Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Background
Throughout 2012, the cold war between the Israeli government and the Hamas-controlled Palestinian government of the Gaza Strip continued as Israel continued to restrict the travel of fishing boats in and out of Gaza (where fishermen smuggled in arms for Hamas) and as Hamas continued to launch rocket attacks on Israel. On 23 October 2012, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Yarmouk munitions factory in Khartoum, Sudan, which was used by the Iranian IRGC to produce arms which were to be shipped off to Hamas; 2 people were killed. In November 2014, the Hamas launched over 100 rockets at Israel in a 24-hour period, accusing the IDF of attacks on Gazan civilians and citing the blockade of Gaza and the occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank as the reason for the attacks. In addition, Gazan militants attacked an Israeli jeep within Israel's borders and detonated an IED at the West Bank barrier. Israel decided to retaliate to stop the Hamas attacks and weaken the organization.

War
The operation started on 14 November 2012, when the chief of the Gaza military wing of Hamas, Ahmed Jabari, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The IDF then struck more than 1,500 rocket launchpads, weapon depots, government facilities, and apartment blocks in the Gaza Strip as part of their operation, and the Palestinians retaliated by intensifying their rocket strikes, with the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad firing 1,456 rockets into Israel; they fired Fajr-5, Grad, Qassam, and mortar projectiles at Israeli cities such as Rishon LeZion, Beersheba, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and others. Israel's Iron Dome intercepted 421 of the rockets, while another 142 misfired and fell on Gaza itself, 875 fell in open areas, and 58 hit urban areas in Israel. On 21 November 2012, Egypt negotiated a ceasefire between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Israel claimed that it had crippled Hamas' rocket-launching capabilities, while Hamas claimed that its rocket attacks had forced the Israelis to withdraw. In 2014, continued rocket attacks led to Operation Protective Edge.